State vs. Private sector

An old interview with a great economist. What he says has been common sense since the 1930es until the mid 90es. Its strange how this view would be seen as leftist these days... Especially if the same words were uttered by a politician anywhere in europe including Slovakia but particularly in the english speaking countries.

Government and the Market:
INTERVIEWER: Who knows best? government or the free-market system?

JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH: I have no doubt on that. The correct balance is pragmatic. If the market system, as you call it, has its own things that it does very well, no one could question, for example, its ability to make automobiles or grow food or provide a large part of the substance of life. But then there's an area where it doesn't work, and the distinction between
the areas where it works and the areas where it doesn't work is the basis of sound policy.

We're not, as we talk, in the United States having a big, sometimes quite mindless, argument about education. Everybody agrees that education is a public service, or almost everybody, and has to be handled, financed by the state, by the government. On the other hand, there's nobody, so far as I'm aware, suggesting that the state should take over the manufacture of automobiles, which I just mentioned, or farm products, or a wide range of other things. So it's a practical judgment that has to be made in the specific case, and it doesn't lend itself to the kind of broad theory implied in your question.

INTERVIEWER: At the end of the day, is morality at the heart of economics?
JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH: No, but it can be. We're talking today in a very rich country, at a very rich time, and at the time we talk a large part of the American population, 10, 15 percent, are living below the level of enjoyment. They're hungry, they're ill housed, they are sick, and very largely as the result of the lack of income, mostly as the result of the lack of income. I would like to see a minimum income for everybody so that you have a life-supporting safety net. I think it's something a rich country like the United States can afford. And I'm not the only one with that view. Conservatives will say that people endowed [that way] won't work. Well, that's quite possible, but I'm impressed with the fact that leisure, if you're rich enough, is also a very good thing. In the past, often I've walked through Harvard Yard and have had one of my colleagues say to me, "Ken, aren't you working too hard?" Excessive work, leisure can be very good for a college professor, or somebody of affluence. Work can be unnecessary.

SRAMKO: Slovakia Will Meet Maastricht Inflation Criterion

Slovakia Will Meet Maastricht Inflation Criterion, Says NBS Governor The National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) estimates the reference inflation level in 2008, which Slovakia should not exceed with regard to its ambition to join the eurozone in 2009, at 2.8 percent. In the monitored period in the spring of 2008 the central bank expects the average inflation in Slovakia to be at 2.5 percent, NBS Governor Ivan Sramko said. The central bank's predictions do not count with further prepared changes in regulated prices that significantly influence the development of headline inflation. After inclusion of the declared drop of natural gas prices for households, the growth rate of consumer prices could be even lower. We could thus meet the Maastricht inflation criterion, although it still remains the most difficult hurdle on the way to eurozone, stated Mr. Sramko. Despite expectations of positive changes, Mr. Sramko still sees a risk in regulated prices of energy.

1995-1997 Meciar's handiwork

"In the period between 1995 and 1997, the board of the NPF decided on 887 direct sales, transfers of shares of state companies or state asset transfers with a total book value of SKK 103bn (US $3 billion at the time). The purchase price was, however, only 48 per cent of the book value. During the entire period, actual NPF privatisation-related revenues reached only 28.7 per cent of the book value of privatised assets.2 Opportunities for corruption and unlawful conduct were therefore mostly linked to the direct sales of privatised property where the NPF board exercised complete discretion over sales of some of the largest enterprises in Slovakia behind a curtain of secrecy. "

The good stuff is always on the PDFs ;)
read the case study by Transparency International PDF

warning

if i hear the sequence of words: " you know the world has changed after September the 11th" once more i ll smack the person that said it!

War on tossers

Transparency International Corruption index

For countries like Italy, ranked 45th, the index provides an annual rebuke, and confirmation that corruption can thrive even without the alibi of poverty. USA is now as corrupt as the Latin American nation of Chile this year's ranking was a fresh embarrassment (Well done Bushy and Republicans!).

interesting article on

The full table (Slovakia is becoming less and less corrupt year after year, its comparable to Czechia and improving fast. For example it has now surpassed Greece in clean dealing by far and last year it was quite a few places behind Greece)

On the table on the right i was fascinated to find that Iraq has become even more corrupt year after year after the americans arrived... (maybe the US index position is not so bad because all the corrupt republican contributors are busy in Iraq corrupting it further and doing "business")



THE FULL TIS CORRUPTION INDEX 2006
the higher up the list a country is the "cleaner" it is

Country Rank

Country

2006 CPI Score

Surveys used

Confidence range

1	Finland	9.6	7	9.4 - 9.7
1	Iceland	9.6	6	9.5 - 9.7
1	New Zealand	9.6	7	9.4 - 9.6
4	Denmark	9.5	7	9.4 - 9.6
5	Singapore	9.4	9	9.2 - 9.5
6	Sweden	9.2	7	9.0 - 9.3
7	Switzerland	9.1	7	8.9 - 9.2
8	Norway	8.8	7	8.4 - 9.1
9	Australia	8.7	8	8.3 - 9.0
9	Netherlands	8.7	7	8.3 - 9.0
11	Austria	8.6	7	8.2 - 8.9
11	Luxembourg	8.6	6	8.1 - 9.0
11	United Kingdom	8.6	7	8.2 - 8.9
14	Canada	8.5	7	8.0 - 8.9
15	Hong Kong	8.3	9	7.7 - 8.8
16	Germany	8.0	7	7.8 - 8.4
17	Japan	7.6	9	7.0 - 8.1
18	France	7.4	7	6.7 - 7.8
18	Ireland	7.4	7	6.7 - 7.9
20	Belgium	7.3	7	6.6 - 7.9
20	Chile	7.3	7	6.6 - 7.6
20	USA	7.3	8	6.6 - 7.8
23	Spain	6.8	7	6.3 - 7.2
24	Barbados	6.7	4	6.0 - 7.2
24	Estonia	6.7	8	6.1 - 7.4
26	Macao	6.6	3	5.4 - 7.1
26	Portugal	6.6	7	5.9 - 7.3
28	Malta	6.4	4	5.4 - 7.3
28	Slovenia	6.4	8	5.7 - 7.0
28	Uruguay	6.4	5	5.9 - 7.0
31	United Arab Emirates	6.2	5	5.6 - 6.9
32	Bhutan	6.0	3	4.1 - 7.3
32	Qatar	6.0	5	5.6 - 6.5
34	Israel	5.9	7	5.2 - 6.5
34	Taiwan	5.9	9	5.6 - 6.2
36	Bahrain	5.7	5	5.3 - 6.2
37	Botswana	5.6	6	4.8 - 6.6
37	Cyprus	5.6	4	5.2 - 5.9
39	Oman	5.4	3	4.1 - 6.2
40	Jordan	5.3	7	4.5 - 5.7
41	Hungary	5.2	8	5.0 - 5.4
42	Mauritius	5.1	5	4.1 - 6.3
42	South Korea	5.1	9	4.7 - 5.5
44	Malaysia	5.0	9	4.5 - 5.5
45	Italy	4.9	7	4.4 - 5.4
46	Czech Republic	4.8	8	4.4 - 5.2
46	Kuwait	4.8	5	4.0 - 5.4
46	Lithuania	4.8	6	4.2 - 5.6
49	Latvia	4.7	6	4.0 - 5.5
49	Slovakia	4.7	8	4.3- 5.2
51	South Africa	4.6	8	4.1 - 5.1
51	Tunisia	4.6	5	3.9 - 5.6
53	Dominica	4.5	3	3.5 - 5.3
54	Greece	4.4	7	3.9 - 5.0
55	Costa Rica	4.1	5	3.3 - 4.8
55	Namibia	4.1	6	3.6 - 4.9
57	Bulgaria	4.0	7	3.4 - 4.8
57	El Salvador	4.0	5	3.2 - 4.8
59	Colombia	3.9	7	3.5 - 4.7
60	Turkey	3.8	7	3.3 - 4.2
61	Jamaica	3.7	5	3.4 - 4.0
61	Poland	3.7	8	3.2 - 4.4
63	Lebanon	3.6	3	3.2 - 3.8
63	Seychelles	3.6	3	3.2 - 3.8
63	Thailand	3.6	9	3.2 - 3.9
66	Belize	3.5	3	2.3 - 4.0
66	Cuba	3.5	3	1.8 - 4.7
66	Grenada	3.5	3	2.3 - 4.1
69	Croatia	3.4	7	3.1 - 3.7
70	Brazil	3.3	7	3.1 - 3.6
70	China	3.3	9	3.0 - 3.6
70	Egypt	3.3	6	3.0 - 3.7
70	Ghana	3.3	6	3.0 - 3.6
70	India	3.3	10	3.1 - 3.6
70	Mexico	3.3	7	3.1 - 3.4
70	Peru	3.3	5	2.8 - 3.8
70	Saudi Arabia	3.3	3	2.2 - 3.7
70	Senegal	3.3	5	2.8 - 3.7
79	Burkina Faso	3.2	5	2.8 - 3.6
79	Lesotho	3.2	5	2.9 - 3.6
79	Moldova	3.2	7	2.7 - 3.8
79	Morocco	3.2	6	2.8 - 3.5
79	Trinidad and Tobago	3.2	5	2.8 - 3.6
84	Algeria	3.1	5	2.7 - 3.6
84	Madagascar	3.1	5	2.3 - 3.7
84	Mauritania	3.1	4	2.1 - 3.7
84	Panama	3.1	5	2.8 - 3.3
84	Romania	3.1	8	3.0 - 3.2
84	Sri Lanka	3.1	6	2.7 - 3.5
90	Gabon	3.0	4	2.4 - 3.3
90	Serbia	3.0	7	2.7 - 3.3
90	Suriname	3.0	4	2.7 - 3.3
93	Argentina	2.9	7	2.7 - 3.2
93	Armenia	2.9	6	2.7 - 3.0
93	Bosnia and Herzgegovina	2.9	6	2.7 - 3.1
93	Eritrea	2.9	3	2.2 - 3.5
93	Syria	2.9	3	2.3 - 3.2
93	Tanzania	2.9	7	2.7 - 3.1
99	Dominican Republic	2.8	5	2.4 - 3.2
99	Georgia	2.8	6	2.5 - 3.0
99	Mali	2.8	7	2.5 - 3.3
99	Mongolia	2.8	5	2.3 - 3.4
99	Mozambique	2.8	7	2.5 - 3.0
99	Ukraine	2.8	6	2.5 - 3.0
105	Bolivia	2.7	6	2.4 - 3.0
105	Iran	2.7	3	2.3 - 3.1
105	Libya	2.7	3	2.4 - 3.2
105	Macedonia	2.7	6	2.6 - 2.9
105	Malawi	2.7	7	2.5 - 3.0
105	Uganda	2.7	7	2.4 - 3.0
111	Albania	2.6	5	2.4 - 2.7
111	Guatemala	2.6	5	2.3 - 3.0
111	Kazakhstan	2.6	6	2.3 - 2.8
111	Laos	2.6	4	2.0 - 3.1
111	Nicaragua	2.6	6	2.4 - 2.9
111	Paraguay	2.6	5	2.2 - 3.3
111	Timor-Leste	2.6	3	2.3 - 3.0
111	Viet Nam	2.6	8	2.4 - 2.9
111	Yemen	2.6	4	2.4 - 2.7
111	Zambia	2.6	6	2.1 - 3.0
121	Benin	2.5	6	2.1 - 2.9
121	Gambia	2.5	6	2.3 - 2.8
121	Guyana	2.5	5	2.2 - 2.6
121	Honduras	2.5	6	2.4 - 2.7
121	Nepal	2.5	5	2.3 - 2.9
121	Phillipines	2.5	9	2.3 - 2.8
121	Russia	2.5	8	2.3 - 2.7
121	Rwanda	2.5	3	2.3 - 2.6
121	Swaziland	2.5	3	2.2 - 2.7
130	Azerbaijan	2.4	7	2.2 - 2.6
130	Burundi	2.4	5	2.2 - 2.6
130	Central African Republic	2.4	3	2.2 - 2.5
130	Ethiopia	2.4	7	2.2 - 2.6
130	Indonesia	2.4	10	2.2 - 2.6
130	Papua New Guinea	2.4	4	2.3 - 2.6
130	Togo	2.4	3	1.9 - 2.6
130	Zimbabwe	2.4	7	2.0 - 2.8
138	Cameroon	2.3	7	2.1 - 2.5
138	Ecuador	2.3	5	2.2 - 2.5
138	Niger	2.3	5	2.1 - 2.6
138	Venezuela	2.3	7	2.2 - 2.4
142	Angola	2.2	5	1.9 - 2.4
142	Congo, Republic	2.2	4	2.2 - 2.3
142	Kenya	2.2	7	2.0 - 2.4
142	Kyrgyzstan	2.2	6	2.0 - 2.6
142	Nigeria	2.2	7	2.0 - 2.3
142	Pakistan	2.2	6	2.0 - 2.4
142	Sierra Leone	2.2	3	2.2 - 2.3
142	Tajikistan	2.2	6	2.0 - 2.4
142	Turkmenistan	2.2	4	1.9 - 2.5
151	Belarus	2.1	4	1.9 - 2.2
151	Cambodia	2.1	6	1.9 - 2.4
151	Côte d´Ivoire	2.1	4	2.0 - 2.2
151	Equatorial Guinea	2.1	3	1.7 - 2.2
151	Uzbekistan	2.1	5	1.8 - 2.2
156	Bangladesh	2.0	6	1.7 - 2.2
156	Chad	2.0	6	1.8 - 2.3
156	Congo, Democratic Republic	2.0	4	1.8 - 2.2
156	Sudan	2.0	4	1.8 - 2.2
160	Guinea	1.9	3	1.7 - 2.1
160	Iraq	1.9	3	1.6 - 2.1
160	Myanmar	1.9	3	1.8 - 2.3
163	Haiti	1.8	3	1.7 - 1.8

U.S. companies are reviving Soviet-era factories—and winning new markets

Alcoa Inc.'s AA mile-long rolling mill south of Budapest seems like a throwback to the Soviet era. The sun struggles to penetrate smudged skylights. Massive Russian-made machines from the 1960s grind away amid clouds of steam. Forklifts the size of flatbed trucks rumble by, stacking coils of aluminum sheeting like giant rolls of toilet paper.

Yet the 65-year-old factory in the city of Szekesfehervar isn't the dinosaur it appears to be. Those brutish Russian machines, long since retrofitted with computer controls and precision rollers, need just 15 minutes to reduce an ingot the size of a sofa to a roll of sheeting a few millimeters thick. In fact, Alcoa Inc. is so pleased with its Hungarian operations that it's spending $83 million to add more modern equipment to the plant and make more sophisticated products. "The investment projects show our long-term commitment," says Bela Forgo, Alcoa's country manager for Hungary.

Across Central Europe, U.S. companies are getting great mileage out of old factories they bought on the cheap. That these soot-stained giants are worth something may come as a surprise to anyone who has spent much time in the former Warsaw Pact region. The countryside is still littered with the carcasses of factories that didn't survive the transition to market economics. But some were always more competitive than they looked.

STEAM TURBINES
Last year, electricity producer AES Corp. AES converted two 1950s-era coal-fired plants in Hungary to generate power from agricultural waste such as sawdust or sunflower seed shells. While AES added equipment to burn the new fuels, Communist-era steam turbines still turn the generators. "We've managed to breathe some new life into those businesses," says John McLaren, president of Arlington (Va.)-based AES's European and African operations. And Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel Corp. has become a major player in Europe with its purchase of a huge steel complex in Slovakia in 2000 and another in Serbia in 2003. In the second quarter, its European operations generated $188 million in profits--one-third of U.S. Steel's total operating income.

Central Europe's cast-offs have helped U.S. companies conquer a piece of the Continent that might otherwise have eluded them. General Electric Co. GE was an also-ran in European lighting before it purchased Hungarian bulb maker Tungsram in 1989. Now GE is No. 3, with 12% of the market. And workers there have proved more adaptable than they're sometimes given credit for. "Hungary is an attractive place not only because assets could be bought from the government, but also because it has a good workforce," says Istvan Szini, chairman of GE's Hungary unit. Now Hungary is home to one of GE's two main centers for lighting research and development.

Modernizing these plants hasn't been cheap, but it has turned out to be money well spent. Alcoa has laid out $900 million in Hungary on both acquisition costs and new gear. Today the original brick buildings are filled with Japanese robots and German equipment. U.S. Steel last year invested $249 million in Slovakia and Serbia, with much of that used to meet European Union pollution standards. But profits from the mill were twice that. "Prior to these acquisitions we had some shipments into Europe but not many," says David H. Lohr, president of U.S. Steel Kosice. "This has been a major step in learning about this market."

Moronic lobbying pt.2

The Mor(m)ons are lobbying again. God needs your money, do you know how much it costs to run heaven... ?

Just click the link

Organised religion = profit making out of people's fears and weaknesses.

piss of back to Utah you inbreds

While sitting on his Texas ranch pondering the state of women's rights around the world, George W. need not look as far as Afghanistan. In his "W is for Women" campaign Bush argued that under the Taliban, a regime once supported by the American government, women's rights in Afghanistan were in peril: Afghani women had lost their right to education, their right freedom of movement, and their right to basic health, to name a few.

In Utah slightly northwest of the Bush homestead the effects of fundamentalist Christianity on women have a terrifyingly similar resonance. In many parts of Utah, within the various extremists sects of Fundamentalist Christians, women are denied education, they are forced to marry at a young age, they are victims of horrific cycles of abuse- physical and emotional, and they live in absolute poverty dependent on the state or their spouse for support.

Andrea Moore-Emmett's newly released book God's Brothel tells the story of 18 women who escaped the horrors of polygamous, abusive relationships in the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints and Mormon communities. Moore-Emmett, born and raised in the Mormon faith, provides a space for insiders' to tell their expository accounts of the sexual slavery and abuse rampant in much of Utah, parts of Missouri, Wyoming, and California; states where polygamy is illegal, but tolerated.

The government of Abraham Lincoln passed legislation criminalizing polygamy. In 1856, the Republican Party pledged to abolish the "twin relics of barbarism - polygamy and slavery". In fact, these policies and the prevalence of polygamy prevented then Utah from gaining statehood.

Church leaders of the Mormon faith, founded in 1843 by Joseph Smith, fiercely argued that polygamy was protected in the Constitution under the right to practice religion freely. On several occasions, the church appealed to the Supreme Court to overturn convictions of their community members, and moreover, to recognize the banishment of polygamy as unconstitutional. According to the Mormon scriptures Doctrine and Covenants, Section 132, multiple marriages are necessary for reverence: "no men can ever attain the fullness of exaltation… if he does not accept the principle of taking on multiple wives." (in Moore-Emmett, p.21) In 1879, in George Reynolds versus the United Stated, the court ruled that the federal law against polygamy was constitutional. The underlying logic was that Americans could believe whatever they wanted so long as they did not practice a belief that violated the law. Mormon followers at the time refused to accept the state's interference and continued their practice.

The passing of the Edmund Tucker Act in 1887 spurred major crusades (called cohab hunts) and attacks against polygamists. In response to searches and arrests Mormons went into hiding or used the Mormon underground to relocate to Mexico or Canada. In 1890, Church President Wilford Woodruff, issued a Manifesto "pledging to congress that Mormons had given up polygamy, thus paving the way to Statehood". (in Moore-Emmett, p.21) And this caused a great divide within the faithful and paved the way to the splintering of smaller, more extreme sects. Moore- Emmett describes at least 15 of these sects that have membership groups that total from 30,000 to 100,000. With their policy that wedded women must have one child per year, these numbers are growing so rapidly accurate counts are difficult.

The women whose stories are told in the book reveal common trends of sexual abuse, forced marriage including that of minors, and the denial of access or engagement with society 'outside' of the sect or compound. Common to most of the women is marriage at a very young age, incest and extreme poverty for women and children. Most of the women whose stories are told have since escaped their fundamentalist communities, though some continue to practice Christian faiths.

Moore Emmett's book is a solid introduction to both the theoretical underpinnings of Fundamentalist Christian communities in the U.S., and the personal trauma and abuses that result from its practice.

While the book paints polygamy as the root of sexual slavery and violence, this is not simply about polygamy - and whether it should be legal or not. In fact, monogamous marriages also continue to be sites of sexual and domestic abuse. Instead, because polygamy is illegal, and state officials turn a blind eye to these rampant polygamous practices, men and their faith leaders are given a carte blanche within their community. And women are left with no protection from the state or law enforcement.

If "W" is, indeed, for women, the Bush government must address fundamentalist communities within its midst.

For more information on this book, please visit: www.pince-nez.com.

For more information on the women's organization started by many of the women whose stories are featured in the book, please visit: http://www.polygamy.org/.

Moore-Emmett, Andrea. God's Brothel. San Francisco:Pince-Nez, 2004.

Reform Fatigue

macko usko says -- This is such a enlightening article about the region, i would also add though that it frustratingly does not include the separation of 2 groups of countries.

• Poland Czechia Hungary
• Slovakia Slovenia Baltics

the firsst group is going nowhere (czech might sort itself out though) and have ;arge deficits

However Slovakia Slovenia and the Baltics are doing great, they are both rising fast in GDP try to keep inflation under control, and have high likelihood of joining the euro

Its really annoying that people lump Slovakia and Slovenia with the rest. Fico is determined to get into the euro. There is no navel gazing in Slovakia! The only thing in the way is inflation (due to rocketing growth, at 4.5% its not unrealistic to bring it down in 2 years)
--


So much for the region's "big four." But bad news is emerging from the smaller countries as well, including the Baltic states. Across Central and Eastern Europe, the scene is almost universally depressing.

When so much goes wrong at the same time, it is tempting to look for a common cause. One factor that is often cited is "reform fatigue."

In barely 15 years, these countries have moved from central planning and economic backwardness to "normal" market economies with impressive GDP growth. But rapid change is always unnerving, and not everyone has emerged better off. Above all, uncertainty has become the norm, in contrast to the gray but predictable future offered by the old communist regimes.

Today, many people now long for that period, which they see as less driven by material values. Communist parties, more or less reformed as socialists, appeal to a surprising number of voters. In some countries, like Slovakia and Poland, far-right nationalist parties provide another alternative, by offering the soothing appeal of traditional values and familiar enemies. Reform fatigue implies that Central and Eastern Europe needs a respite to catch its breath. But another explanation of recent developments in the region begins by noting that post-communist reforms were largely dictated from outside, as a condition of admission to the EU. With membership
achieved and EU money starting to pour in, leaders feel secure enough to let economic policy slip.

Thus, budget deficits are the rule, and where they are largest, as in the Czech Republic and Hungary, they have gained priority over euro adoption. Indeed, only Slovenia has been admitted to join the euro area next year, the earliest possible date. Estonia and Lithuania applied as well, but were refused entry.

gift of the soviets

There is some truth in both explanations of Eastern Europe's backsliding. But what is the phenomenon that such explanations are supposed to clarify? There has been no general tilt to the right or left in the region. Reforms that are attacked in one country continue to guide others.
Nevertheless, the EU's newest members share some key features. Most importantly, they inherited from the Soviet era bloated and inefficient public sectors, which they are finding hard to downsize and professionalize. The private sector has been entirely rebuilt and is vibrant, but it cannot remain competitive if fiscal demands are not reduced -- a familiar problem in Europe as a whole. For now, the tension has been left unresolved, leading to high budget deficits.
But the EU's new member countries have no access to any safety net. They could well squander the significant transfers that they receive through the agricultural and structural funds, as many previous EU recipients did. If they abandon macroeconomic discipline, as Hungary and possibly the Czech Republic may be doing, they alone will face the consequences. Being outside the euro area, their currencies would fall, undermining growth in purchasing power and living standards. As they are economically small, the rest of the EU would barely shudder. Fortunately, the main lesson to emerge from the region's current troubles is that economies adapt faster than
polities to changing conditions. Growth has been strong; while it could have been stronger under more favorable policies, only huge mistakes could break the rise in living standards, given the region's productivity gains.

Western Europe went through a similar phase of economic development in the 1950's and 1960's; now it is Central and Eastern Europe's turn. Sadly, then as now, countries never seem to learn from others' mistakes.

Charles Wyplosz is professor of international economics and director of the International Center for Money and Banking Studies at the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva.

What we Westerners fail to grasp about the world.

Why EU enlargement to turkey failed & GW Bush's democracy spread is going
the same way...

Hypocrisy, double standards, and "but nots" are the price of universalist
pretensions. Democracy is promoted but not if it brings Islamic
fundamentalists to power; nonproliferation is preached for Iran and Iraq
but not for Israel; free trade is the elixer of economic growth but not for
agriculture; human rights are an issue for China but not with Saudi Arabia;
aggression against oil-owning Kuwaitis is massively repulsed but not
against non-oil-owning Bosnians. Double standards in practice are the
unavoidable price of universal standards of principle. (The Clash of
Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, P. 184)

"In the emerging world of ethnic conflict and civilizational clash, Western
belief in the universality of Western culture suffers three problems: it is
false; it is immoral; and it is dangerous...Imperialism is the necessary
logical consequence of universalism." (The Clash of Civilizations and the
Remaking of World Order, P. 310)

Slovakia must step up efforts to join euro - Central bank chief and all round nice guy Ivan Sramko

An issue of vital importance, if Slovakia joins the euro this will set slovakia for great growth and developments finally surpassing the Czechs at something important and making it a major destination for Foreign Direct Investment...

Times are getting exciting, Fico must extend Sramko all cooperation and help on the fiscal side...
___
Slovakia must step up efforts to join euro - bank chief
By Andrew McCathie

dpa German Press Agency
Published: Wednesday November 8, 2006

By Andrew McCathie, Bratislava, Slovakia- Slovakia needs to step up efforts if it is to meet its tight deadline for the next key step in the nation's European integration process - signing up to the euro in January 2009, the country's central bank chief told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. But while Ivan Scramko expressed cautious optimism that Slovakia would be able to knock its public finances into shape in time for joining what is currently the 12-member eurozone, he roundly criticised the tough fiscal rules for adopting the euro as set out in the Maastricht Treaty.

The Slovakian national bank governor said that to a considerable extent the selection process is influenced by external factors and is not in the hands of the those nations applying to join the euro.

"This is further proof that the Maastricht criteria have not been adequately set," Scramko said.

However, he warned that Slovakia, which was one of the ten largely Central European states that joined the European Union in May 2004, needed to take steps to keep the lid on inflationary pressures to ensure the nation's euro bid did not founder.

In particular, this included revamping the nation's fiscal policy to ensure that it is more flexible and trimming the deficit.

"The perspectives for joining the euro area in 2009 are good, although there are risks," he said.

Indeed, he saw the key challenge facing the nation as bringing its inflation rate into line with the tough reference rate (currently about 2.6 per cent) that has been set for countries seeking to join the common currency.

From their top-floor boardroom of the central bank's high-rise building in central Bratislava, the members of the bank's rate-setting council have a remarkable vantage point to view the fast-paced economic changes underway in the new EU member state.

As a measure of the construction boom underway in Bratislava and that has helped to fuel concerns about overheating in the Slovakian economy, the central bank building has just recently lost its status as the city's tallest building.

Robust domestic demand in Slovakia is projected to power the nation's economic growth ahead by 6.5 per cent this year with annual inflation running at 4.6 per cent in September, down from 5.1 per cent in August.

Price stability might be the main priority of the Slovakian national bank, but Scramko said other factors such as unemployment and economic growth needed to be taken into account. "We are not going to achieve low inflation at any cost," he said.

After inflation this year knocked Lithuania out of the running to become a eurozone member in 2007, the small former Yugoslav republic of Slovenia will become the only new EU member state to join the euro on January 1.

But should Slovakia succeed in meeting the 2009 deadline for euro membership it will become the first of the leading new EU states - Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary - to adopt the euro.

Analysts have rolled back their timetable for when Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary are likely to join the euro.

Slovakia has already become the first of the four key EU newcomers to sign up to the European Rate Mechanism, which represents a key step along the tough road to euro membership.

"We are closely watching Slovenia and hope to learn some more lessons from its practical experience with the changeover," said Scramko.

"The most difficult task is to bring inflation below the Maastricht level by spring 2008," said Scramko.

Spring 2008 is likely to be when the European Commission will decide whether Slovakia meets the strict fiscal targets for adopting the common currency.

In the meantime, the central bank in Bratislava has embarked on a rate-hiking cycle to tame consumer price pressures, having hiked its benchmark rate by a total of 175 basis points since the start of the year.

But while many analysts believe that Slovakia might have a chance to drive its budget deficit below the strict 3.0 per cent target, Bratislava will be hard pressed to grind inflation back below the even tougher goal for euro candidates.

Government and central bank officials along with business leaders have already prepared a national euro changeover plan, which sets out action plans for the country's different economic sectors.

This also includes a mandatory dual display of prices for about six months before and at least 12 months after the changeover with the central bank chief stressing the need to monitor prices following euro adoption.

But said Scramko: "We need foremost to take further steps towards disinflation. This does not only include monetary policy steps. We need support from a prudent fiscal policy and we need moderate wages."

After all, he said the central bank is not expecting those making the final decision on Slovakia's entry to the euro to show it any leeway.

"We are prepared that the assessment of our convergence will not forgive us anything, but we also expect that both the criteria and the assessment process will not become tighter than they have been till now," he said.

HIGHER severance pay, shorter work time, limitation of temporary work contracts

Whoever is again the changes below should explain why...

the current labour code is Slovakia is like saying to employers, employees are crap you can treat the like dogs if you like... Not even Britain (which is the most anti-employee EU country) has the laxity that there is in Slovakia.

As an employer you can have people working like slaves and minimum civilised standards can be circumvented, this is clearly unfair and exploitative... These are fair changes and Fico should be congratulated for putting this right at a time when Tony Blair has failed to do such things for all these years in power. Continental europe is a civilised place, if somebody wants to behave to employees as if they are chinese or indians they should go and live there, and sell their products and services only there! (but oh no they want to pollute & exploit producing stuff in china but sell in expensive shops in London...)

I also find that KOZ the labour union in Slovakia is actually quite responsible and reasonable. This crap with using part time labour to get away from rewarding people fairly needs to stop, particularly because it might piss off the germans who have standards in these things so much that the EU money that flows into slovakia may not do so in the future. Its unfair competition for Slovakia to prostitute its people's labour like China is doing. China is a Communist dictatorship, but the freedom fighters of the western media seem to forget that little detail... Why isn't bush trying to topple the Commies in China then? Isn't there oppression there? China allows western investment and big profits so they are not evil anymore... Pathetic...

here is the news item in full:

Planned changes in Labor Code favors employees

HIGHER severance pay, shorter work time, limitation of temporary work contracts for employees and the restriction of forced employment through trade licenses are among the planned changes in the Labor Code revisions which Labor Minister Viera Tomanová wants to submit to the government by March of next year.

However, employers, who are happy with the current Labor Code, are against the planned changes being demanded by the labor unions, Pravda wrote.

Labor unions are demanding that the work week should not exceed 48 hours including work emergencies at workplaces. They also want employees to enjoy the same rights regardless of whether the employees are part-time or full-time. Currently part-time employees who work fewer than 20 hours per week are entitled to a shorter notice period and lower severance pay.

“It is discrimination that we want to eliminate,” said Vladimír Mojš from the Confederation of Labor Unions (KOZ).

PM Robert Fico also supports changes in the Labor Code.

“It is definitely not right that Slovakia has a law which enables people to work from dawn till dusk. I think there should be certain limits,” Fico said recently.

War on Terrorism.

If only GW Bush had bothered to read Huntington in the 90es when he argued that the trends of global conflict after the end of the Cold War are increasingly appearing at these civilizational divisions. Wars such as those following the break up of Yugoslavia, in Chechnya, and between India and Pakistan were cited as evidence of intercivilizational conflict. The War on Terror is seen as its largest manifestation.

Huntington also argues that the widespread Western belief in the universality of the West's values and political systems is naive and that continued insistence on democratization and such "universal" norms will only further antagonize other civilizations.

Huntington sees the West as reluctant to accept this because it built the international system, wrote its laws, and gave it substance in the form of the United Nations. Huntington identifies a major shift of economic, military, and political power from the West to the other civilizations of the world, most significantly to what he identifies as the two "challenger civilizations", Sinic and Islam.

Pretty

Krasna Slovakia